Taxpayers pay price for Bergen County legal fights

The Bergen County executive sued the Board of Freeholders over the hiring of a county auditor.

The county clerk sued the county executive over the hiring of a liaison to the Korean-American community.

The surrogate sued the county executive over three promotions that were blocked.

The county executive sued the freeholders over an ordinance that sought to dissolve the County Police and merge it with the Sheriff’s Office.

The Northwest Bergen Utilities Authority sued the county executive over the payment of stipends and medical benefits for commission members.

The county executive sued the utilities authority seeking to recover those benefits paid to commissioners.

It all happened in the space of eight whirlwind — some would say eye glazing — months, for reasons all the parties thought were essential, but ones that left taxpayers wondering who was running county government.

It also stuck taxpayers with the bill for a series of lawsuits, some still ongoing, that so far have totaled more than $230,000.

For County Executive Kathleen Donovan, a party in each suit, it was a price to pay for shaking up a county power structure that she says has not been challenged in years. The suits, three of which were filed by her office, not only took on practices she deemed wasteful, but are helping to establish, in a legal way, the full extent of the powers given to her office when it was created a quarter century ago

To others, they were the product of Donovan’s unwillingness to compromise on decisions she felt were clearly in her domain.

So far, the results of that litigation are a mixed bag. Donovan has won one lawsuit; won partial victories in two others; lost one (which remains on appeal); and settled two cases.

“The litigation reflects the old and the new — those whose concern is politics versus those concerned about policy,” Donovan said in a statement.

She blamed her predecessor, Democrat Dennis McNerney, for not establishing control over policy she contends her office controls.

“McNerney never was involved in litigation of this kind because he was part of a political machine,” she said. “The litigation reflects my willingness to fight to keep my word, and the word of other elected public officials, to the residents of Bergen County.”

A spokesman for the Bergen County Democratic Party said Donovan is mistaking gridlock for reform.

“True reform, the reform that people want to see, is that brought about by government working cohesively and working together,” said party spokesman Adam Silverstein.

Not just party politics

While two of the lawsuits were filed by Democrats, Surrogate Michael Dressler and Clerk John Hogan, not all of the litigation split along party lines.

Donovan twice has sued the Board of Freeholders, where the GOP holds a 5-2 majority. The first suit stemmed from the board’s attempt to hire a county auditor, which Donovan contends is her appointment to make. The second sought to block the board’s effort to merge the County Police into the Sheriff’s Office and to put the matter to a referendum. The costs so far have been around $45,000 for the two suits. Oral arguments in the auditor case were made on Friday, with a decision expected this week.

John Mitchell, a Cliffside Park Republican who heads the Freeholder Board, said he is dismayed at all the legal bills racked up so far in the disputes between county officials.

“It’s outrageous. It’s too much,” Mitchell said. “I’m sure we could argue over the merits of each case. And I suppose if you talk to each of the parties, everyone will say ‘No. No. We had to do this.’

“But when you look at that number, clearly it behooves us to be working together in a more compatible way so that these expenditures are not borne on the backs of an already beleaguered taxpayer,” Mitchell said.

Dressler, who lost his suit against Donovan, said he has served as surrogate with three county executives, both Republican and Democrat, without any problems like what he encountered this year. The case challenged Donovan’s authority to block promotions in his office. It has cost more than $56,000.

“I hope going forward we can discuss and meet and get on the same page,” he said. “We need to be able to talk.”

The Freeholder Board is split over the need for some of the litigation.

Freeholder David Ganz, a Fair Lawn Democrat, last week started voting against approving any further payments for outside counsel, even though he said he believes public officials are entitled to legal representation.

“I believe that the expenditure of public funds for this is disgraceful,” he said. “It seems to me we’d do better if we spent $50 to go to Toys “R” Us and bought a sandbox and play in it together.”

Freeholder Robert Hermansen, a Mahwah Republican, defended Donovan’s role as an agent of change in some of the lawsuits

“I think what you’re seeing is people who’ve never heard the word “no” before,” Hermansen said. “… So their immediate reaction is that they’re going to sue over this.”

Jeanne Baratta, Donovan’s chief of staff, struck a similar note in assessing the lawsuits filed by and against Donovan.

“When Kathe Donovan ran for county executive she made it clear that it wasn’t going to be ‘business as usual,’” Baratta said. “It seems that some people don’t understand that and are trying to hold on to ‘the good old days.’Ÿ”

Baratta said the cost of Donovan’s litigation against the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority — in which she challenged the practice of paying stipends and health benefits to part-time commissioners — will be absorbed by the eventual savings to taxpayers and the utility’s customers.

The commission’s 2012 budget included $40,000 for stipends and $97,189 in medical benefits. So far, nearly $75,000 has been spent on outside counsel for two lawsuits involving the utilities authority.